Texas A&M Engineering Programs Continue To Rise In U.S. News Rankings, Other Programs Also Ranked

Texas A&M University’s Dwight Look College of Engineering continues to move up in rankings by U.S. News & World Report for the best graduate degree programs in engineering, now ranking in a sixth-place tie among public universities and tied for 11th place overall.

Texas A&M programs in public affairs, business, education, science and the social sciences and humanities also are ranked in the magazine’s annual spring ratings of graduate-level degree programs in a variety of fields.

U.S. News’s 2014 rankings, released Tuesday (March 12), show that Texas A&M graduate engineering programs overall moved up one place in both categories and into a tie with the University of Texas at Austin. Texas A&M’s nuclear engineering program is rated the third-best of its type in the nation among public universities and fourth overall. Its biological and agricultural engineering program is rated the fifth-best program of its type in the nation, and its aerospace engineering program is ranked sixth among public institutions and tied for ninth place overall with Princeton.

In response to a growing need for engineers in Texas and nationally, Texas A&M officials announced earlier this year plans to expand the university’s engineering enrollment to 25,000 by the year 2025, with both undergraduate and graduate students included in the “25 for 25” initiative. Texas A&M currently enrolls more than 11,000 engineering students annually, placing it among the largest in the nation.

Overall enrollment for Texas A&M surpassed 50,000 last fall and ranks among the top seven universities nationally in size.

University officials note Texas A&M’s graduate program continues to grow in size as well as improve academically, surpassing the 10,000 milestone last fall for enrollment of students pursuing doctoral or master’s degrees.

Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin cited two key factors that have contributed to the university’s enhanced standing in graduate education.

“Unquestionably the faculty reinvestment program — our successful endeavor to add more faculty, including many with world-class credentials — has had a highly positive impact at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and has also enabled us to significantly expand our research portfolio,” Loftin stated.

Texas A&M’s investment in research now totals more than $700 million annually, ranking among the leaders nationally and first in Texas.

The U.S. News graduate school rankings released in the spring complement those announced annually in the fall for undergraduate programs at U.S. colleges and universities. Texas A&M programs at that level, particularly in engineering and business, also fare quite well, university officials note. Also, they point out that Texas A&M placed second nationally in the magazine’s “Great Schools, Great Prices” category, which is considered a key assessment that ties academic excellence to affordability.

The graduate programs in Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, Mays Business School and the College of Education and Human Development also are once again ranked by U.S. News, along with several departmental programs in science and the social sciences and humanities.

Among public affairs programs at universities throughout the nation, Texas A&M’s Bush School is tied for 21st among publics and once again ranks 33rd overall — tied with three other institutions. The Mays Business School ranks 14th among full-time MBA programs at public universities and 35th overall. Texas A&M’s College of Education and Human Development ranks in a 35th-place tie among public institutions and in a 47th-place tie overall.

In the College of Science, the chemistry program is eighth among public universities and tied overall at 19th. In the inorganic chemistry field, Texas A&M places sixth in both categories. The statistics department is tied for third place among similar entities at public institutions.

The political science program in the College of Liberal Arts is tied for 14th among public institutions and is in a three-way tie for 25th place overall. The economics program is in a four-way 21st-place tie among public institutions and in a similar tie for 42nd overall. The psychology program is in a five-way tie among publics at 41st and tied with 11 others at 67th overall.

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